Shadow Money May Set Record

Independent spending regarding San Francisco Board of Supervisors contests, 2002 – 2012Independent spending refers to campaign spending by independent groups or persons which is not coordinated with any candidates.

Total D1 spending by top two candidates: $346,000
Amount by which Independent spending exceeded total candidate spending: $38,000

III. Conclusions

1. Greatest amount of Independent spending on a District:

2010, District 8

2. Greatest amount of oppositional spending:

2008, Eric Mar

3. Greatest amount of supportive spending:

2012, David Lee

4. The current Independent spending in District 1 exceeds the total combined spending by candidates Mar and Lee.

5. Based on the current amount already spent by this point in the election, the independent spending in the 2012 District 1 contest will possibly if not likely surpass the reported total independent spending of 2006 and 2010, which would make 2012 the year of the greatest amount of independent spending on a single Supervisor contest during 2002 – 2012.

Note: Independent spending amounts for the year 2000 were not included in the above comparisons because the Ethics Commission has not released a comprehensive report for that year. However, available information indicates that 2000 saw massive amounts of independent spending. According to the 2002 Public Financing report of the Ethics Commission, Independent spending on the 11 Supervisor contests occurring in 2000 totaled $7,070,000.

Sources:

Public Financing reports released by the San Francisco Ethics Commission (http://www.sfethics.org/ethics/2012/05/public-finance-program.html);